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I'm searching for a way to geocode venues with google maps. The Geocoder API only provides the ability to use addresses for geocoding. But what if don't know the address and only the city and the name of the restaurant? Or I want to retrieve results for "Mc Donalds Berlin" or just "Bar Berlin"?

I've found this post where he asks exactly what I need: Suggest list in google maps search input

And at his blog I found a solution

This works very well and its incredible fast! I've checked out the source code and saw that he is using this URL:

http://maps-api-ssl.google.com/maps/suggest?hl=en&gl=us&v=2&json=b&auth=4c8b041euWw4-3h2-Ty2fD3D1BKVQqJCEcU&src=1,2&num=5&numps=5&callback=handleResponse&q=........

Btw, it's the same URL that maps.google.com uses to get their ajax autocompletion.

My questions now are:

  • Is it allowed to use this URL for my own website?
  • Do I need a special API key? (because of the auth= var in the URL above)
  • Or is it sth like a paid service?
  • Are there any other ways to get the problem solved? e.g. with the standard Geocoder API from google?
Community
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23tux
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1 Answers1

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You might want to take a look into Google Places API for Venues:

Google Places API

Another way to do it is through YQL, but i am not 100% sure on the accuracy of it. Go to YQL Console and try the following query:

select * from local.search where query="outback steakhouse" and location="atlanta, ga"

This would give you locations of Outback steakhouse in Atlanta, GA. Also you can query resturants near a zipcode:

select * from local.search where zip='30045' and query='restaurant'

I am sure there are ways to query venues around a given point using YQL.

KJYe.Name
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  • thx for your answer. But you need an Adsense publisher id to access google places. I don't have one, so I tried to sign up to the adsense service. In the formular they need my full name, including address, telephone and so on. But I don't want to provide this information to google (they already know too much about me ;) Is there another way where I can just test google places, without signing up to adsense? – 23tux Mar 22 '11 at 18:09
  • @23tux as of now you'll need adsense account. Another way is to use YQL – KJYe.Name Mar 22 '11 at 18:14
  • @23tux also i believe the example you show are just using google instance to do google map's Geocode. It doesn't really find the venues around that area. – KJYe.Name Mar 22 '11 at 20:35
  • do you mean the yahoo query language? Is there a method to geocode adresses and venues? I've asked the author of the example above. He said, that he used the same api as google maps itself does, and also asked some developers from google. They said that it is not illegal, but the API is not documented, and can change without any notification. The other issue is, that he is not sure, how google will react when you use this API for production with many calls. Maybe they can block your app. Another question: What do you mean by "using google instance to do google maps Geocode"? thx! – 23tux Mar 23 '11 at 07:22
  • @23tux the example you give above uses Geocode and nothing specific to venues. Its just guess work based off addresses paring up with google instant (not instance my bad). Google Place API is still in beta AFAIK. Look at the query results on YQL. The same goes w/ Google Maps, if you make too many requests they can stop your app from querying their database, but you can pay a license feed annually to get that removed. – KJYe.Name Mar 23 '11 at 11:18